Ryan Nugent-Hopkin's season is over. He will have shoulder surgery, as early as this Tuesday in Cleveland.

He has a suspected labrum tear in his left shoulder. Last year they fixed his AC joint on the same shoulder, but now he will need the same surgery Taylor Hall had last year.

Hall's season ended on March 27th last year, he had surgery on April 3rd, and he played his first game in OKC on November 2nd, 2012.

Nugent-Hopkins might have surgery as early as this Tuesday, April 23rd, but that means he likely won't play until mid-November. Due to the lockout the Oilers didn't have to rush Hall back, and the Oilers will need to fight the urge to get RNH back on the ice next season.

Just like Hall, Nugent-Hopkin's injury dates back to junior. Hall told me last fall that the surgery process is painful, but that he felt much better, he also said he was glad he didn't have to rush back due to the lockout. The Oilers must play it safe with RNH in October and give him significant time to heal.

It is fair to ask why RNH didn't have this surgery a month ago because it was clear from the start of the season that he's been struggling. I wasn't at the morning skate so I couldn't ask him, but it is something I will ask tomorrow. I suspect the answer will be that they were the hunt for the playoffs and the doctors said he couldn't injure it any worse than it was.

There is no chance Nugent-Hopkins will be ready for the season opener, and that means the Oilers will be without their #1 centre. I understand the Oilers wanted to compete for the playoffs this year, but I think they should have sent Nugent-Hopkins to the surgeon much sooner.

One of Canada's most versatile sports personalities. Jason hosts The Jason Gregor Show, weekdays from 2 to 6 p.m., on TSN 1260, and he writes a column every Monday in the Edmonton Journal. You can follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/JasonGregor

STOP BLAMING LOWE. THIS IS NOT LOWE'S FAULT. THIS IS TAMBELLINI'S FAULT. I'M GETTING FED UP WITH LOWE GETTING BLAMED AND TAMBELLINI GETTING A FREE RIDE. THIS IS TABELLINI'S FAULT AS IT TAKES HIM TOO LONG TO ASSESS. STOP THE LOWE BASHING. NO WONDER PLAYERS DON'T SIGN IN EDMONTON. THEY'LL GET BASHED AND RUN OUT OF TOWN BY SO-CALLED OILERS FANS.

WOULD YOU PEOPLE STOP BASHING THE WORD BASH! It is the best four letter / one syllable word in the dictionary. No wonder it doesn't want to be in your sentences. You keep bashing the word BASH, but what happens when you really want to bash someone. Then what? Huh?

You people call yourself fans but then try to run the word BASH out of the dictionary.

STOP BLAMING LOWE. THIS IS NOT LOWE'S FAULT. THIS IS TAMBELLINI'S FAULT. I'M GETTING FED UP WITH LOWE GETTING BLAMED AND TAMBELLINI GETTING A FREE RIDE. THIS IS TABELLINI'S FAULT AS IT TAKES HIM TOO LONG TO ASSESS. STOP THE LOWE BASHING. NO WONDER PLAYERS DON'T SIGN IN EDMONTON. THEY'LL GET BASHED AND RUN OUT OF TOWN BY SO-CALLED OILERS FANS.

STOP BLAMING LOWE. THIS IS NOT LOWE'S FAULT. THIS IS TAMBELLINI'S FAULT. I'M GETTING FED UP WITH LOWE GETTING BLAMED AND TAMBELLINI GETTING A FREE RIDE. THIS IS TABELLINI'S FAULT AS IT TAKES HIM TOO LONG TO ASSESS. STOP THE LOWE BASHING. NO WONDER PLAYERS DON'T SIGN IN EDMONTON. THEY'LL GET BASHED AND RUN OUT OF TOWN BY SO-CALLED OILERS FANS.

Oilers are still getting bashed for drafting Hall instead of Seguin. They got bashed big time when Seguin got his first goal prior to Hall.

Oilers are still getting bashed for drafting RNH over Landeskog/Larsson. They say Landeskog was the better player and RNH should be sent back to junior to save $.

Oilers are still getting bashed for drafting Yakupov ahead of Murray/Galchenyuk. They say they need defesnse and not a forward.

The bashing goes on and on because Slats is no longer the GM.

The Oilers drafted the right players period. The only debatable was Hall Seguin. On Slats, he got a free pass for his drafting, no one cared cause he was a master of attracting players through trades.

On Lowe, he's made 2 playoffs in 10 years. His rests on his laurels and has the gaul to say he's qualified because he rode coat-tails to 6 cups, and 2006 his team caught lightning in a bottle. Yes that's a slam, I respect his competitive nature, and his drive but drive doesn' t make you competent, it makes you overlook the other intangibles your missing. Its all he has, the intangibles that make Lou Lamorrello great, Bryan Murray outstanding, and Holland the shiznit are the ability to access talent and attract players to your organization. As one poster eloquently alluded to, Lowe's an arrogant SOB, and veteran players have known not to come to Edmonton in the past. We're stuck in the New York Islanders rebuild, albeit after how many years and so many failed experiments finally succeeded. All we can look forward to is eventually gaining enough young talent so we can't help but win. Any GM in the NHL could do that. It takes a brain like Bryan Murray to escape the shackles of a painful rebuild.

If MacT makes that bold deal, I'll be his first nuthugger, well, sorta.

This just puts the final nail in the Tambo coffin. If he had this information before the trade deadline I'd wonder wtf he was thinking. Did Tambo think that this team would go far with his number 1 center with a bum shoulder? If he did have this information then his firing was even more necessary. I wouldn't have said a word if had the balls to take him off the shelf a month ago and told ON that RNH needed the same surgery as Hall. I could live with that. Beyond the fact the person is more important than the team. It behooves a GM to make short term descisions like this if he was aware of it. If you have knowledge that RNH needs surgery you don't even ask the player if it can wait. You call him into the room and tell him he is done and go get the surgery. See you next year. Piss me off it wasn't done sooner. Tambo if he knew should have known better. That what he was getting paid for as GM.

Can you imagine the ON rage if RNH hangs it up after the 8-2 oiler win that had up in the playoffs for a day ? Mathematically eliminated is the only time to pull the plug folks ....

This was an awful, short-sighted decision that now impacts next year as well. Im very disappointed in the management of personnel by the team this year.

Maybe this is part of the reason why Dithers got the boot, y'know assesing the situation for to long instead of telling RNH go for surgery now(back at the begining of April or even saying no he cant go to the world juniors).

no way he should be playing on the first line. if his shoulder was hurt in junior why would they not fix it then? Dont you think playing in a bigger,faster leaque might just improve your chances just a tiny little bit of re hurting your shoulder?

Only a competent management group would figure that out. We don't have that luxury here in the "city of champions"

Shameful. He should of had his shoulder repaired when it first was determined their was a problem. No one would had issues with tanking the season to ensure his long term health. I'm disgusted and dismayed by this inept useless regime. Now we start next season without our number one center, are we in for another long year.

why not put Hall at center for the remaining five games? What's there to lose? I know he wants the whole pre season to get accustomed to that position but what exactly are the remaining games for the oilers to the oilers? Pre-Season to next years pre season, perfect time to put Hall between Yakupov/Eberle and Paajarvi or somethin.

Hall is turning into a superstar. Leave him the hell alone. Let him fly the zone, be the offensive nightmare that teams fear. He's the only thing on this team that seems to work. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

A astute GM should be able to address the problem in the off sesson I've got faith in him whether I agree with the hire.

Players don't sign in Edmonton because Kevin Lowe is an arrogant POS. They see things like this and the way Lowe handled Souray and they woukd cringe.

As for your belief that Kevin Lowe is not to blame . I strongly disagree. Lowe stated that Tambellini ran everthing by him. This was in an article here in the summer. Besides who hired Tambellini in the 1st place and then extended him last season.

The more time that passes, the more I get pissed about Klowes mishandling of Souray. Its hard not to when Souray is one of the top defensemen in the league this year. Yeah he sure was worth that buyout.

THIS IS NOT ON LOWE. THIS IS ON TAMBELLINI. FANS HAVE TO STOP BLAMING LOWE AND GIVING TAMBELLINI A FREE RIDE. SOURAY DIDN'T COMPLAIN WHEN LOWE WAS GM. THIS HAPPENED WITH TAMBELLINI AS GM.

OILERS FANS NEED TO STOP BLAMING LOWE AND SAYING TAMBELLINI IS LOWE'S PUPPET. THIS IS ALL ON TAMBELLINI.

well that was the elephant in the room, it was painfully obvious he was going to need shoulder surgery. A lack of centre depth this season meant he had to stick it out and now we miss him for the first part of next season...great.

There is no chance Nugent-Hopkins will be ready for the season opener, and that means the Oilers will be without their #1 centre. I understand the Oilers wanted to compete for the playoffs this year, but I think they should have sent Nugent-Hopkins to the surgeon much sooner.

Another bad decision on a long list of bad decisions by the Edmonton Oilers.

Ol' 6 rings is a winner though, don't question his hockey acumen.

I hope after his MacT presser performance he's kept to pancake breakfasts with sponsors and 1st tier fans.

The playoffs were essentially out of reach after losing to ANA on April 8th.

I hope the timing of this announcement was coupled with MacT smacking everyone who kept him playing upside the head.

When I read: "...the doctors said he couldn't injure it any worse than it was" raises my doubts. Medically, is this really true?

The Oilers long-standing weakness at the centre position has seriously impeded the club's success. Now they will miss Nugent-Hopkins for a month at the beginning of next season and we all hope he fully recovers from the injury.

Speaking of hope, it is incumbent on Craig MacTavish that he addresses the centre problem ASAP. And the answer isn't within the current roster. Horcoff is badly slipping, Smyth was a very short-term and not particularly good solution, Belanger should be toast, Smithson is a big question mark, and what will become of UFA Gagner?

Good thing we have depth at centre! We can afford to lose Hopkins for 15 games next year!

Should've shut him down earlier and got help in the centre position. Derek Roy and Steve ott for example. Neither would've cost the first round pick and would've been a half decent option until rnh was ready. Then next year we would have some depth.

Mact you have your work cut out for you. Time to get meaner. Make sure people Pay the price for running the young guys. I have no complaints about who we picked the last 3 years, the issue is allowing them to play their game without getting run. The supporting cast is abismal. Get rid of gagner, hemsky, Belanger, Whitney, potter, etc and get some tougher guys who can skate to keep up and clear room.

Honestly I wish I could punch this management group square in the face.

I think for many (Lowetide was on top of this early), it was apparent that RNH was playing injured. And, damn it, he just wouldn't be an Oiler unless he's had season-ending shoulder injury. That's part of the deal.

This will prove a good test for MacT this summer. We now need, in some form or another, three centremen: one might be coming in the draft, but they'll also need to find solid depth guy (Smithson?), along with replacements for compliance-buyout Belanger and trade-bait Gagner.

Lander's the only guy in the system even close to taking one of these spots, unless they move Hall to C, then one summer pickup will need to be a winger (or, failing that, Toni Rajala).

With RNH down, I worry about drafting a raw C, burning a year of his ELC while throwing him into the deep end.

Maybe this is part of the reason why Dithers got the boot, y'know assesing the situation for to long instead of telling RNH go for surgery now(back at the begining of April or even saying no he cant go to the world juniors).

i think you are crazy if you think dithers had the authority to make a decision like that on his own.

tambellini took the fall, but this sort of crap is on the whole group of them.

This whole thing is ugly. It smells of fear. A GM and coach fearful of losing their jobs. We've been looking at the big picture for 3 years now and the same people who continue to preach this position have a very short sighted approach to the Oilers #1 center. Asinine. Not impressed.

"The things we want to take out of this season and into next year should be visible in this week's games." - Coach Krueger